US cable heavyweights HBO must be used to controversy now, but it didn’t stop a group of protesters from gathering around the Los Angeles Museum of Art yesterday in response to HBO’s Phil Spector.

The protestors allege that HBO’s film implies that actress Lana Clarkson (whom Spector has been convicted of shooting and killing) in fact committed suicide, therefore exonerating the beleaguered producer. The most vocal of the protestors is Edward Lozzi, Clarkson’s former publicist who claimed “To see that this film was going to be made was a slap in the face”. While the group initially wanted production to be halted, they have now switched their efforts to making sure that the film doesn’t receive any Emmy awards.

Made specifically for the HBO network by storied director David Mamet and starring the dream-team of Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, the film focuses on Spector’s defense after the Clarkson’s death, and suggests that she may have committed suicide after a bout of age-related depression. It is due to air on HBO on March 24. [via Rolling Stone]